Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to: 

• Provide an annual position statement in relation to strategic workforce related areas of assurance, workstreams/associated action plans and progress to date within key areas for Northumberland County Council for the full financial year of 2021/22. 
• To provide assurance to the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview & Scrutiny Committee that there is provision and monitoring in place to achieve necessary Key Performance Indicators relating to the workforce on an ongoing basis. 

• To provide elected members with an overview of the strategic direction for the Council’s workforce related matters as part of the Covid-19 recovery plans for the county as these continue to evolve. 
• To provide members with an overview of the monitoring and actions taken during the period from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022 in accordance with the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy for employees.  Members are asked to note that other aspects of Whistleblowing which are not employee related are logged and maintained by the Council’s Monitoring Officer. 

Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services is required to attend for this item.

L. Furnell, Service Director, introduced the HR & OD annual update for workforce report to the committee.  The following parts of the report were highlighted to Members:- 

• It was confirmed that following a short-term strategy which was in place until April 2021 in recognition of the need to focus on staff health and wellbeing.  A wider People Strategy 2021-24 has since been implemented to realise our ambition to continue to be an employer of choice in a post-pandemic era. 
• The strategy was a 5-pillar strategy and each pillar had workstream leaders to oversee it. 
• The Authority had successfully TUPE’d over 623 NHS staff.  There was a lot of preparation involved for a smooth transfer including inductions to make staff welcome.  There had been no complaints from staff that Officers were aware of. 
• Officers highlighted that there were 600 apprenticeships across the Authority. It was noted that these ranged from level 1-7.  There were also 2 graduate programmes and an MBA programme available in the Authority.  It was noted that the pandemic had affected the apprenticeship programmes. 
• The labour market was challenging.  The Authority had recently created a recruitment task and finish working group to improve the market position for Northumberland County Council. 
• The whistleblowing policy had been reviewed in April 2022 and renamed raising concerns at work policy.  It was confirmed that Members concerns were to be reported to the Monitoring Officer, whereas staff concerns would be reported through the channels explained within the policy. 
• The equality and diversity networks were working really well and there were two new networks created: Armed Forces and Apprenticeships. 
• A new leadership programme had been introduced called ‘Living Leader’ it had a train the trainer approach and had been very successful so far. 

The following comments were made in response to Member’s questions:- 

• Members noted that Service Directors and Heads of Service were given the opportunity to use the Work Smart reviews in a way which met the needs of their service.  It was noted that it was not a one size fits all approach.  The general desk ratio for County Hall was 3 to 10 and service leads had delegated responsibility to structure this in the best needs of the service. 
• It was confirmed to Members that the membership to Stonewall was historical and there were no membership fees being paid currently. 
• Members were assured that although the completion of performance appraisals would never achieve 100%, those who had been missed due to sickness or maternity leave would be picked up at another time. Support meetings with service leads were in place to improve compliance in areas that had struggled. 

• Members were assured that through talent management and recruitment drives that the apprenticeship uptake would be improved.  It was important to illustrate to prospective employees that apprenticeships offered were not just at entry level.  The Authority were striving to recruit apprentices for an onward career path within the Council. 
• The wage for apprenticeships had been raised at a JCC meeting, although the Authority was looking into it, as although the cost-of-living crisis would have an effect on individuals, the Council was also mindful about what it could afford.  There was ongoing work including finance colleagues to take this forward. 
• Members were assured that staff turnover was sometimes a good thing to bring in new talent.  It was noted that that there was not a big uptake on exit questionnaires, but any information gathered was acted upon.  This was being factored into the recruitment and retention task and finish work. 
• It was confirmed that all councils had similar issues with recruitment and retention of staff, this is a national issue across many sectors. 
• Members suggested that the Authority used different tactics to attract different demographics to apprenticeships, such as in schools, but also in playgroups to attract people for possible career changes.  Officers took these suggestions on board. 
• Officers recognised suggestions for performance indicators from previous years to also be included in the report so Members could compare figures and identify services needs. 
• It was confirmed that the staff bank was used in a way that resembled an internal agency, where staff could register and be assigned work on an ad hoc basis.  It was a good way to cover staff shortages internally at a lower cost than external agencies. 

RESOLVED members agreed to note and support the recommendations in the report.